Take A Roll On The Wild Side

The Supreme Court just heard a VEEEEERY interesting case.

--Victor Harris zoomed at 80 to 90 miles per hour in his Cadillac covering nearly nine miles in six minutes with a deputy sheriff hot on his tail. But when the chase ended in a violent crash that left the 19-year-old driver a quadriplegic, the roles reversed.

Now it is the deputy sheriff being pursued – by lawyers who say the officer violated the teen driver's constitutional rights when he forced the speeding Cadillac off the road.

Tuesday, Mr. Harris's case arrives at the US Supreme Court where the justices must decide whether drivers who speed and disobey police commands to pull over nonetheless are constitutionally protected against having their cars rammed by law-enforcement officials in high-speed chases. The Fourth Amendment prohibits police from using unreasonable tactics during arrests.--

First, let me say that it sucks this dude ended up paralyzed. That's gotta be an awful way to live. Can't even take a piss without shoving a catheter up your pecker. It doesn't get any less dignified than that.

That being said, it's not the officer's fault the poor bastard rolls instead of walking. No one made him put the pedal to the metal and try to outrun the cops, at night when the roads were wet. (Mmmmmmmmmm... wet.)

Ahem. As I was saying, the decision to not stop was made by Mr. Harris. The reason he gave was that his license was suspended, and he didn't want to go to jail. Then somewhere along the way, he decided he would stop, but not until he got home, because he didn't want his car impounded.

In other words, the decisions he made that night were all about him. Therefore he really oughtn't to be suing because things went caddy-whumpus.

This is not to say that you humans should stop doing stupid things. Making mistakes is how you learn, and how you grow. Wheelchair Boy was young, dumb, full of piss and vinegar, and ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that he was invincible. That's not unlike many other nineteen year olds. It's kind of a wonder that so many of you get to adulthood with all your digits and limbs intact and no brain damage.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky, and this guy was one of those less-than-fortunate ones. Yes, it's sad. But again, no one made him drive in excess of ninety miles an hour in the dark on damp pavement. He chose to do that all by his little ol' self.

Which is why I think the Supremes are brain damaged if they find that excessive force was used. This dude passed when the center line was yellow double solid a few times, and ran a few red lights to boot. Thus, the cops were screwed whether they tried to stop him or not.

If he'd killed somebody during his little joy-ride, the public would scream bloody murder, and the police would get sued. They attempted to stop him, it went wrong, and they get sued. Can't win for trying, huh?

Don't get me wrong. I'm no fan of cops in general. Honestly, they scare me, because so many of them are people of very average intelligence, who went into police work because it was the only way someone like them could achieve any real power.

But they've got a suck-awful job. And it's also a job where their very lives depend on making split-second judgement calls. You - and the justice system - can't look back at those hair-raising moments with the benefit of hind-sight and say, "Well, they should have done THIS instead."

Actually, you can. It would just be wrong.

So if the Supremes decide to say that bumping the ass end of ol' Victor's speeding Cadillac in an effort to make him stop was inappropriate, well, that would be wrong too. And it would also unleash a torrent of other would-be Victors on the road, knowing that all they had to do to ditch the cops is accelerate to an unsafe speed.

And that would be bad on a number of levels. I don't think I'd ever go for a ride with my people again. I'd be too scared.

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